Recommended Age: 2 and ½ years and on
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, although this exercise requires no material or setting up, the adult must facilitate the game. This game may be played anywhere for example in the car, waiting in a queue, on a walk etc
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- None
Preparation
- None
Steps
- The game begins after the child has been involved in an experience, for example; The child/children went to their grandparent’s house to bake a cake for the grandfather’s birthday.
- The aim of the question game is to help children recall upon an event and answer questions in their appropriate context such as WHO, WHY, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW
- After the experience begin by asking the child/children “Who’s house did you go to today?”
- The children need to then recall the people, associating when we refer to a person or people we use the term ‘who’ ‘I’ and ‘whom’
- Then ask the child/children “When did you go to your grandparent’s house?”, prompting the child/children to recall when the experience occurred, giving them a sense of time
- Then ask the child/children “Why did you go to your grandparents house?” prompting the child/children to recall the purpose of the experience (to make a cake for their grandfather)
- Repeat asking the child/children questions, giving help to recall if necessary
- At the end of the question game summarize the experience, for example; “You went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house yesterday to bake a cake for Grandpa’s birthday” reiterating WHO, WHY, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW
- Transition the child to their next activity by giving them two choices for example “Would you like to do some cutting or build with blocks?”
Notes:
- This game may be played individually or in small or large groups
- The more experience the child has with the oral question builds the child’s ability to participate in conversations without changing the topic
